Hamas executes 6 suspected collaborators

Palestinian group puts to death six men suspected of delivering information to IDF, guiding IAF warplanes

Ali Waked |Published: 01.07.09 , 00:52

Six Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel
have been executed in the past two days by Hamas
security officers in the fighting zone in Jabalya, Ynet has learned.

Among the alleged collaborators were three brothers, one of whom attempted before his arrest to swallow a cell phone's SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card, which is believed to have documented his conversations with Israeli security officials.

Ynet has learned that in recent days Hamas reached the suspects in the area where Israeli ground forces have been operating and where air strikes continue simultaneously.

An eyewitness said that among the dead were three brothers executed on the street. Palestinians organization members and security sources in the Strip confirmed the report.

IAF jet in Gaza (Photo: AFP)

A source in Hamas referred to the report, saying that "an assassination or an air strike cannot take place without guidance from the ground, and all these guys confessed to the act."

According to the source, the three confessed at the presence of their sister, who announced in public that she condemned her brothers and would cut all ties with them due to their betrayal.

A fourth sibling from the same family was executed last week after attempting to escape a bombed Gaza jail. He was imprisoned for collaborating with Israel and for aiding the assassination of Amar Karmut, the former leader of the Salah al-Din Brigades, the Popular Resistance Committees' military wing in the northern Strip.

In addition to the siblings, three other Palestinians were executed shortly after being seized on suspicion of collaborating with Israel and guiding the IDF forces, particularly Air Force warplanes, before the strikes.

One of the detainees was captured with a cell phone earpiece stuck to his ear. According to a Palestinian security source, there is a severe shortage in chargeable phone cards and SIM cards, but some of the suspects were seen talking on the phone and walking near Hamas activists' homes. They all confessed to the betrayal before being executed, he said.

A number of Palestinians were executed about a week ago, after IAF jets bombed Gaza City's main prison in the Saraya compound which houses Hamas' government offices and security organizations.

The suspected collaborators escaped from the prison after the bombing, but were seized by Hamas members and the families of the collaborators' victims.

Reports on executions have also been received from other places across Gaza, but the exact number of victims is unclear.